Local author’s book finding success

“A job was what you did for money, and a vocation was the thing you did because you loved it,” said former Fairfield resident Nathaniel Campbell of what he learned from his parents.

If there were ever any question about Campbell’s vocation, the recent attention that he’s receiving after the release of his debut novel, “Found Audio,” should make that apparent.

The book landed the No. 1 spot this summer on the Chicago Tribune’s Ultimate Summer Reading List.

“I’m very surprised and very grateful,” Campbell said.

Campbell graduated from Maharishi University of Management with a literature degree in 2008, and, he served for around six years as the manager of M.U.M.’s press marketing Office.

He recently moved away from Fairfield.

According to an M.U.M. newsletter article, Campbell grew up in Rockford, Illinois, in a blue-collar family that appreciated the arts. Following his parent’s example, he worked his day job at the university, and by night, he worked his vocation as a “devoted fiction writer.”

Over the years, Campbell continually studied his craft, and wrote “Found Audio” within four months.

The novel was published by Two Dollar Radio, which described the novel as a cerebral thriller that takes readers on a journey around the globe in search of the legendary City of Dreams, based on a series of mysterious audio recordings by an adventure journalist.

“Summer is synonymous with escape, and good books can both supplement a vacation and offer an alternate getaway when you can’t get away. Following are some of the season’s most promising literary diversions,” said Laura Pearson of the Chicago Tribune — listing Campbell’s novel as No.1.

In addition to The Tribune, “Found Audio” was also reviewed by well known literary reviewers Publisher’s Weekly and Kirkus.

“A page-turner, an onion peel of a story surrounding nothing less than the central questions of human existence. The reader is led down a rabbit hole and back out again, confused, afraid, but nevertheless also ever so slightly amused. This is a weird little book full of momentum, intrigue, and weighty ideas to mull over,” read the review from Publisher’s Weekly.

According to Campbell’s brief biography on Two Dollar Radio’s website, he has won the Little Tokyo Short Story Contest, received accolades from the California State Legislature, and has been anthologized in the collection American Fiction from New Rivers Press. Found Audio is his first novel.